WELCOME TO THE GENRE BLUR!

Whether you're a poet, a playwright, a fiction writer or a creative non-fiction writer, you can use each of these four forms to push the boundaries of your own genre. E.g. If you're a poet, you'll write from the perspective of a poet, and use the forms to generate new and fabulous poetry, if you're a fiction writer, you'll use the new forms to generate fiction. Of course, you're also welcome to cross the divide between genres, or blend away!

Expect ample rule-bending & breaking as we traverse this hybridized world.

WEEK ONE: The Rant
WEEK TWO: The Dramatic Monologue
WEEK THREE: Micro-fiction
WEEK FOUR: The Prose Poem

PORTFOLIO
We'll investigate excellent literary examples of these four forms, including both page and stage versions. We'll dive into writing at least two pieces in each genre (or perhaps eight hybridized pieces!) and aim to polish a portfolio of four short forms over our weeks together.

EXTRAS
Expect pre-class reading packages and take-home prompts. After each session is over, I'll offer an extra 30 minutes of editing/trouble-shooting time—open to anyone who'd like 5-10 minutes of one-on-one assistance with their short forms.

This is my favourite workshop to teach! I've taught it at The University of Victoria, I've taught it live and online, and I'm excited to offer it to YOU!

WORKSHOP NOW FULL!

WHAT TO EXPECT IN THIS WORKSHOP:

Jan 8th: preliminary package arrives!

A fabulous long poem package arrives in your inbox, and if you've don't have a poem in the works, you need to begin writing ON OR BEFORE THIS DAY.

It's important that you already have 6+ pages for the first class on Jan 15th.

Please mark off time this week to WRITE!
Suggested time: 1-2 hours a day Jan 8th-Jan 15th.

BONUS CALL: If you'd like to chat about your ideas or ask questions before the first class, I'm 100% here for you! Please email me HERE and we'll book a complimentary 15-30 min call via phone or my zoom room.

POETS WITH POEMS: If you already have a poem going, you might feel inspired to write more after reading the poems in the package. But if you have 6+ pages, it's okay if you just read the package.

Jan 15th & 22nd: our first & second online meetings

During these two classes we'll divide the time into:

a) discussions about the poems in the packages

b) poem sharing time (we'll look at half the poems on Jan 15th and half the poems on Jan 22nd, and each poet will receive the same amount of time. If you are not ready to share, or you don't want to, that's 100% okay too.)

c) writing time

WHEN WE DISCUSS THE POEMS IN THE PACKAGES: we'll focus on the structure, style, narrative or non-linear techniques, etc., used in their construction (not the meaning or the minutia of craft). We'll ask ourselves how/if they engage us as readers and how/if they manage to carry us forward through ten+ pages. We're looking at what the poems can teach us about this form, and how they might solve our own long poem problems, or show us how to improve our poems. We'll be on the hunt for ways to expand our own poems, or "write into" gaps we've identified in our poems. We'll also be looking and listening for ways to deepen our own work.

WHEN WE SHARE INDIVIDUAL POEMS: each poet will be invited to share a little about their long poem, talk about challenges they're facing, and pose questions/problems, and then screenshare their poem. I will offer feedback, as well as safely guiding any suggestions, if the poet is open to receiving this. We will always begin with what's working and what we admire.

PLEASE SCHEDULE 1+ hour a day for writing/editing your long poem on both the weeks of the 15th and 22nd.

Jan 29th: our final online meeting

We'll spend the 2.5 hours looking at every poem (time will be distributed fairly between all poets). You can read your poem aloud, screenshare it, and we'll address any questions or concerns you still have.
AFTER THIS CLASS you'll have two more days to finesse them ready for sending to the contest: PLEASE be sure to schedule time in your calendar for your own personal editing on Jan 29th & 30th. And PLEASE add a reminder to submit on either Jan 30th or Feb 1st.

WORKSHOP FULL!

IS THIS WORKSHOP FOR YOU?

If you have a poem you'd like to write/edit for submission to The Malahat Review's Long Poem Prize (FEB 1st deadline), this is the workshop for you!

If you've NEVER WRITTEN a long poem, this workshop is also for you! (We'll begin writing in advance on Wed Jan 8th...or you can begin now!)

Leading up to each class, we'll read award-winning long poems as structural and technical examples. We'll dive into generative writing, uncover ways to deepen the work, identify possible gaps and "write into" said gaps, and explore ways of stretching your poem. We'll also look at narrative and non-narrative, linear and non-linear methods of writing a long poem.

A long poem is traditionally 10+ pages in length (in the modern tradition). It can be lineated or in prose format, it can be in sections, or one rambling poem of many stanzas. There are no rules per se, but there are plenty of ways to tame this long and unwieldy form.

~

Before being invited to join the editorial board of The Malahat Review, one of my poems was shortlisted for the Long Poem Prize. Later, as a poetry editor for the journal, I was part of the team selecting poems for the shortlist. I know what makes a good long poem, and what gets attention in a contest, and I'd love to share this with you!

MY LONG POEM JOURNEY:

I fell in love with the modern long poem after reading Aurian Haller's winning poem in The Malahat Review. But I'd already been seduced by Beowulf, Tennyson's Idylls of the King, and tackled some of Gilgamesh.

Did you know that the CBC Poetry Awards used to be a Long Poem Prize? It switched to it's present 600 word length back in 2012. I wrote my first long poem in a workshop with Tim Lilburn (who read Dante to us for the first two classes), and that long poem ended up on the CBC longlist in 2009.

I also wrote the beginning of my chapbook, Disassembling A Dancer, the same year. It began as a long prose poem, and most of it was published in Grain Magazine (the chapbook is basically a long poem that's been subtitled).

Cult Life contains two long poems that I eventually split and distributed throughout the book. And I have five other long poems--two in a manuscript under consideration, two in the manuscript I'm presently immersed in, and a floating long poem that doesn't seem to belong anywhere (I'm planning to enter that poem on Feb 1st).

I can't stop writing long poems! I've also edited plenty of long poems for mentees and editing clients, and it's a thrill to see them published or included in books. This workshop is a culmination of all of this experience, as well as my fondness for the form, and it's long overdue.